RIO DE JANEIRO--Brazil's B&A Mineracao, a mining venture set up by former Vale (VALE, VALE5.BR) president Roger Agnelli's AGN Participacoes holding company and Banco BTG Pactual SA (BBTG11.BR), is set to announce new mine asset acquisitions in the coming weeks, a company board member said in an interview.

In addition, both B&A and AGN may consider selling shares via an initial public offerings.

"This is a good moment to buy assets as, with the crisis, prices have gone down a bit," said Fabio Spina, a director of both B&A and AGN. "B&A has $520 million to invest, and we've only spent around $100 million so far. We have 20 to 30 mining projects under study for acquisition, in Brazil, Africa and Latin America, in iron ore, copper, fertilizers, rare earths, titanium and, who knows, maybe even nickel."

Holding company AGN also owns transport and biofuels subsidiaries with projects in Brazil and Africa. The biofuels concern will sign a concession with an unnamed African government this week for a 70,000-hectare area to plant sugarcane, while the logistics company is eyeing various Brazilian port projects, each of which is worth more than $1 billion, Mr. Spina said.

AGN, created last year as a partnership between Mr. Spina, Mr. Agnelli and Goldman Sachs' Carolina Menezes, will be strengthened by entry this week of two new partners with fresh funds: Jair Ribeiro, a partner in Banco Indusval, and Alfredo Degoyer, of trading company Sertrading.

"We could consider holding an IPO either in B&A or in the holding company," Mr. Spina said. "There are many doors opening."

Another option would be entry of a "strategic partner," he said.

However, an IPO isn't expected immediately as the group's projects are still in the formative stage. B&A, created in July, has so far made three acquisitions: 30% of Cuprum, a closely held Chilean copper producer; 30% of Brazilian potash and phosphates concern Rio Verde Minerals; and 11.5% of MBAC Fertilizer Corp. (MBC.T), a phosphates company traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Food demand will grow significantly as more than one billion people swell the ranks of the middle classes worldwide by 2030, making fertilizers a key area of B&A interest, Mr. Spina said.

"Brazil imports nearly 50% of its phosphate needs and 90% of its potash requirements," Mr. Spina said. "The Brazilian fertilizers market is growing 6%-to-7% a year and prices are rising in line with demand for livestock feed. Brazil is the third largest potash market worldwide."

Africa will eventually be responsible for meeting world demand for natural resources and food, according to Mr. Spina. "Africa's fertilizer consumption today is 400,000 tons a year. This will grow to 3-to-4 million tons a year within six years and thereafter up to 7 million tons a year."

Also in Africa, AGN's logistics arm is pioneering a "$600 million-plus" project to set up a deepwater port in Sao Tome & Principe, for which partners are being sought. Financing may come from the International Finance Corp. and Brazil's state-owned BNDES development bank, Mr. Spina said. Both B&A and AGN Logistica are in discussions with the government of Guinea on how to set up rail and port options that will make the west African nation's vast iron ore and other mineral wealth more marketable.

"They've got one or two Carajases there, yet people are going hungry," said Mr. Spina, comparing Guinea's Simandou mountain range to the mineral-rich Carajas mineral province in northern Brazil. "The Guinean ore is fantastic quality, but there's no way to get it out yet."

While B&A hasn't yet announced any iron ore projects, it considers that "now is the golden opportunity" for investing.

"The iron ore boom, driven by Chinese demand, will last another 7-to-10 years," Mr. Spina said. "After that, everything will have been built." China's urbanization drive will start to slow in another decade, leading to changes in materials demand that will be increasingly based on scrap metals and high-resistance metals, including titanium, he added.

Demand for copper and rare earths, B&A's other current focus, is meanwhile expected to hold firm for 30 to 40 years due to their key role in basic industry and finite mineral reserves, Mr. Spina said.

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